Driving…actually someone else always drove…like Emmanuel…so while riding to work in Port Harcourt, we always listened to whatever Emmanuel (Emma) wanted to hear. We talked about music sometime. My only knowledge of African music consisted of, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ali Farka Toure, and Miriam Makeba. Emma, over the weeks took me to school. Actually the most popular artist was Bob Marley, definitely a t-shirt hero there… One guy I had not heard was Fela Kuti, a legend in Nigeria, known as Fela, and pioneer of Afro-Beat. Emma burned a CD for me but I lost it… a few years later, watching the film “The Visitor”, one of the characters, a young man from Syria, a serious drummer, teaches the main character, a stodgy widower-professor, how to drum… lends him a CD to study… his hero Fela Kuti. If you think Prince is out there, or consider Jack White to be this generation’s Elvis, or fall on your knees to Dylan, in Africa… Fela is (was) the man… and bring your Bob Marley CDs too…
crossroads and currents......by tom ryan
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Fela Kuti
Driving…actually someone else always drove…like Emmanuel…so while riding to work in Port Harcourt, we always listened to whatever Emmanuel (Emma) wanted to hear. We talked about music sometime. My only knowledge of African music consisted of, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ali Farka Toure, and Miriam Makeba. Emma, over the weeks took me to school. Actually the most popular artist was Bob Marley, definitely a t-shirt hero there… One guy I had not heard was Fela Kuti, a legend in Nigeria, known as Fela, and pioneer of Afro-Beat. Emma burned a CD for me but I lost it… a few years later, watching the film “The Visitor”, one of the characters, a young man from Syria, a serious drummer, teaches the main character, a stodgy widower-professor, how to drum… lends him a CD to study… his hero Fela Kuti. If you think Prince is out there, or consider Jack White to be this generation’s Elvis, or fall on your knees to Dylan, in Africa… Fela is (was) the man… and bring your Bob Marley CDs too…
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Hey, Tom. Chandler here, author of <<√ You Or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr (2009)>> Does the check mean you finished it? If so, tell me what you thought chandlerburr@gmail.com. And you can actually be completely honest, even if you hated it; I'm interested in thoughtful criticism as much or more than praise.
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